


Of Dust and Stars

by That_Girl_Under_A_Rock



Series: Infinity War reactions [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Ashes Scene in Avengers: Infinity War Part 1, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Gen, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), The Asgardians hurt me so much, Valkyrie doesn't know her friends are alive, Valkyrie has to pick up the mantel and lead again, Valkyrie was missing so I sorta fixed it, thorkyrie - Freeform, valor - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 16:52:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15005210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/That_Girl_Under_A_Rock/pseuds/That_Girl_Under_A_Rock
Summary: Just when Valkyrie thought she had made progress toward friendship and reclaiming her life, the Norns decided to knock her right back on her ass, this time without a bottle to drown herself in or a friend to help her stand again.





	Of Dust and Stars

         Valkyrie thought stars were kind of pretty, now that she was completely surrounded by them. From the single window of the escape vessel she could see the twinkling specks above, below, and expanding outward into forever before her and the few Asgardians in the cramped vessel. Being on Sakaar for so long with its own chaotic mess of lights and noise, Valkyrie had almost forgotten what actual stars looked like. These  weren’t the fleeting fireworks that littered the skies surrounding the Grandmaster’s tower, these were the same stars looking down at her when she lost everything, the same ones that looked on as Asgard was destroyed, and would continue to look on, doing nothing but glitter in the distance, like the little shards of a glass bottle flying off in all directions, or like the explosion of the ship the few friends she had, and the remaining Asgardians had been on.

_“Your Majesty, don’t die!”_

           Those had been Valkyrie’s last words to the god of Thunder. The first time she told Thor they were on Asgard, still hoping to save their planet, and the second was as their ship was invaded by the Children of Thanos. Just when she thought that she had helped to accomplish something good, done something to get back on her feet again, the Norn’s had decided to knock her right back on her ass.

          Staring at the small piles of dust at her feet, Valkyrie found herself slumped against the back of the ship staring out the window. The few remaining Asgardians with her stayed huddled together, trying and failing to make sense of what had just occurred. A moment before, there had been ten Asgardians, including Valkyrie, passing around a package of emergency food, and the next second five watched in horror as their companions dissolved before their eyes. Through the communication link in the pod, came the muffled sounds of other Asgardians crying out in horror and demanding to know what was happening to their friends and family members.

          She didn’t have an answer.

         How could she answer them? She knew it had something to do with the Titan who destroyed their ship, destroyed their king. She knew it had to do with those infinity stones Thanos’ children were demanding when they boarded the ship. She knew these things, but she didn’t know the words to say to comfort these people.

           She closed her eyes.

           These People.  _These People_ were **Her People** now.

           “Take care of _our_ people. Lead them to safety.” Thor had told her, as he pulled her out of the way of spear. He hid her behind a wall, his eye fixed on her despite screams and destruction of the ship. “I will see you again on Earth-“ He started just as Hulk came crashing through another wall, “-if I don’t die here.”

           “Then don’t die, Thor.” She answered quickly. “They need you.”

           “And you, Valkyrie-“ He looked up seeing Heimdall taking on two enemies at once.

           “Go, I’ll take care of them until you return.” She wouldn’t ask him for any promises to return. She knew better than to ask for that.

           She opened her eyes and brushed her hair out of her face as she stood up again. She couldn’t mourn. Not yet. Valkyrie no longer had the luxury of hiding at the bottom of a bottle when didn’t want to face something. She had to face her problems head on.

           _“Because that’s what heroes do.”_

           She almost smiled as the memory of Thor’s favorite saying sparked in the back of her mind. She stood up to the control panel of the escape pod.  With each pod leader she talked to, her heart felt heavier and heavier as she realized how few of them were left in the end. She was doing her best, but once again it seemed like her best was not enough. Asgard was gone. Thor, Bruce, Heimdall, and Loki were gone. Another half of her people were gone. She didn’t even want think about how far away Earth was, and how the escape pods were designed for short distances instead of long term travel.

           “What are we going to do?”

           She turned to see a young girl hiding in her mother’s arms, as if shielding her from the site of the ashes. Valkyrie didn’t want to think too long about why that might be. She thought for a moment and then opened up the communication line with the other pods.

           “This is Brunnhilde, most of you know me as Valkyrie. My pod has also lost Asgardians. I’m not sure what the cause of this is, but I don’t think I’m wrong to think it has to do with the titan who destroyed our ship. We need to get to Midgard. The coordinates are already programed into your escape pods, we’ve been on course since the pods were launched.” She looked down at her hand, noticing for the first time how it was closed around Dragonfang, knuckles colored white with force of her grip. She stretched her fingers and continued, “Our king wished for us to go there. Our best chance for survival is to do as he wished. Everyone should activate their distress signals as well. These pods only have a limited supply of food, water, and air, we’ll need to stop off to resupply, or hope someone with a big enough ship will help us. I told our king I would guide us to safety, and I will. No matter what.”

           Brunhilde waited for the answers of the other pods before shutting off the line and turning on the pod’s distress signal. All that was left to do was wait for help, or for another planet, wait and hope that she would not fail him again.

**Author's Note:**

> Seriously, Thor's plot tore me apart. The Asgardians deserve to feel safe and everyone is just throwing them around and it hurts.  
> As always, I hope you enjoyed reading!


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